


Stark: Solving the Energy Crisis?

by Starfire (kalypsobean)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Newspapers, Pre-Iron Man 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-03-16 14:45:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3492281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalypsobean/pseuds/Starfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Stark Industries came under a cloud after Tony Stark announced his company would be taking a new direction. In an exclusive interview, our reporter gains an insight as to the personal reasons for this change and what impact it might have.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stark: Solving the Energy Crisis?

**Author's Note:**

> for yohkobennington's prompt _Everything you touch turns to gold_ at [towerparty](http://towerparty.livejournal.com)

** Stark: Solving the Energy Crisis? **

_Stark Industries came under a cloud after Tony Stark announced his company would be taking a new direction. In an exclusive interview, our reporter gains an insight as to the personal reasons for this change and what impact it might have._

 

The last time we gathered for a press conference at Stark Industries, we were treated to Tony Stark eating a cheeseburger and announcing that Stark Industries would be exiting the weapons business. Initially dismissed as Stark displaying symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, the announcement was followed by the Stark Industries board, taking action to limit Stark's power over the company he inherited at 21. Led by Obadiah Stane, Stark Industries continued manufacturing weapons and kept their government contracts.

Now Obadiah Stane has departed Stark Industries under a cloud, though the official story is that he is on vacation, and we listen to Tony Stark as he jokes about how this time he will keep to the speech he has prepared. His longtime friend and military liaison, Col. James Rhodes, stands by him and leans in to whisper in Stark's ear.

"The truth is," Tony Stark says, and pauses. The atmosphere in the room is palpable; we have learned never to expect anything from Tony Stark, as he always defies those expectations and leaves the press scrambling to catch up. There is a rustle of paper, a hum of a microphone, and the stillness of bated breath, as we wait.

"I am Iron Man." We stand, and talk over each other as we want to ask the first question, to find out from Stark what this means for his company, what really happened the night before, and what it is that drove him to reveal his secret. Col. Rhodes, however, has other ideas, and with the assistance of several men in black suits, Tony Stark is ushered from the podium and into the building without another word.

 

When Tony Stark first announced that Stark Industries would no longer manufacture or supply weapons, their stock fell over fifty points in a day. Now that he has regained control over his company and enforces his new policy, the stock hovers twenty points below last year's average. It doesn't seem to be affecting Stark; he is engaging and ruthlessly sarcastic as he gestures to a padded chair by the window of his office. 

"I am not stressed, or whatever it is they say I have," he says, in response to a comment from his assistant on whether he would like to rest before the next interview. "I have cuts and bruises, but I assure you that I am capable of spending ten minutes making nice with the media." Which he is, as he deftly deflects questions about his extracurricular activities in favour of explaining his newfound stance on the market of war.

"I designed these things to protect people, fellow Americans, in whatever war they were fighting." In Stark's tenure, he has supported the US military in campaigns in the Congo, Albania, Haiti, Lebanon, Georgia, Yemen, the Philippines and Pakistan, as well as providing both weapons and infrastructure for the campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq and Liberia. Having come to power just prior to the events of 9/11, Stark's contributions have been designed for modern warfare, and he feels that it is uncomfortably remote. 

It is well-known that Stark spent three months in captivity, held hostage in a cave which he admits to escaping, though he avoids giving details, as if the circumstances are still painful for him to remember. What he does tell me, though, is shocking in both its implications and its severity.

"They had my guns, guns I designed personally. They used my own missiles to take out the convoy I was in." So having produced those weapons to protect our military, Stark was in the position of seeing them used against US soldiers first-hand. "I realised something, and that's that we can't control these things once they leave our facility. I could be responsible for the destruction of a school, a market, a small town, and not even know it. It's unconscionable. Stark Industries will no longer be a part of an industry that enables destruction."

He reassures me, hastily, that Stark Industries will be maintaining its contracts for items to be used on US soil. They currently supply domestic police, fire and rescue organisations with protective clothing and items, and their medical research division will have its funding increased as a result of the changes. "But I feel personally responsible for finding some way for [Stark Industries] to make a positive contribution." Not to make up for the damage he feels that Stark weaponry has caused, he adds. "They say the best weapon is one you don't have to fire. Stark Industries will be shifting focus towards a change that will make some of these wars unnecessary, and therefore those weapons will be obsolete."

The change? "Clean energy," Stark says. While his headquarters have been running on an independent power source, he now believes that he can develop it to be used on a larger scale. It's the same dream that his new competitors have been chasing without success for decades. The difference, Stark says, is that he's already achieved it. The reactor at Stark headquarters had been running without problems for several years before its destruction. "We just need to refine it, we don't have to start from scratch," he says, with a glint in his eye that seems more like he is enjoying something to do with his playboy reputation than his engineering degree.

"Playboy, really? Is that what they call it these days?" Stark says, when I ask if his reputation might prove a hindrance. "I don't intend to be distracted, no." He pauses, as if thinking. "Do you see that? I just had an idea. Do you mind?" He pulls a pad of paper across the table and starts scribbling.

It seems Stark Industries may be in good hands after all.

_Reporting by Christine Everhart._


End file.
